What happens to math once you cross zero? Mr. Martin's students at South Dearborn Middle School are finding out this week, practicing problems with positive and negative integers.

It's building the kind of number sense that makes everything from temperatures to bank balances easier to read.

Reminder: The Dearborn County Health Department will be hosting a vaccine clinic available to the South Dearborn community on Tuesday, September 22nd, at 9:00am in South Dearborn Middle School.

South Dearborn Community School Corporation is having an asynchronous eLearning Day today! For more information, please visit the eLearning page: https://www.sdcsc.k12.in.us/page/elearning

Mrs. Stanley's students at South Dearborn Middle School spent the week on a kindness project, finding creative ways to brighten someone else's day: affirmation posters, painted rocks, hidden notes, small surprises left for others to find.

It was a simple idea with a real lesson behind it: a little kindness goes a long way, especially when you don't expect anything back.

Keep an eye out around South Dearborn — you might just find one of their surprises!

The Dearborn County Health Department will be hosting a vaccine clinic available to the South Dearborn community on Tuesday, September 22nd, at 9:00am in South Dearborn Middle School.

South Dearborn Middle School's Student Government and Aurora Elementary School's Student Leadership Team are teaming up for a "Spare Change Challenge" benefiting Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Dearborn County!

From Monday, September 14th through Friday, September 18th, students at both schools will compete — grade vs. grade at SDMS, class vs. class at AES — to raise the most spare change, with a prize for the top group at each school.

On Friday, September 25th, students and staff at both schools are asked to wear pink for Dolly. That afternoon, SDMS Student Government will visit AES to read with PreK–5th graders and present the funds raised to the Imagination Library.

Bring your change, wear your pink, and help put books in the hands of Dearborn County's youngest readers! 📖

What does it take to become a doctor? Ms. Gabbard's eighth-graders at South Dearborn Middle School are finding out in PLTW Medical Detective — measuring vital signs, collecting bacterial samples, testing antibiotics, and diagnosing patients, switching roles between doctor, nurse, and patient.

It's building real clinical thinking and teamwork, and opening their eyes to just how many different careers exist in healthcare.

The book fair made its way through South Dearborn Middle School this week, giving students the chance to discover new titles, dig into their interests, and find a few new favorites to bring home.

Thank you to the students and families who made it a great week for reading! 📚

Band and choir directors Mr. Pallada and Mr. Francis are working with South Dearborn Middle School students on the fundamentals — posture, embouchure (the way a musician positions their lips, teeth, tongue, and facial muscles to play a wind or brass instrument), scales, and musical articulation. It's the kind of practice that builds real control, rhythm, and confidence as musicians.

Come out and support the SDMS and SDHS bands and choirs at their performances this year:

August
- Saturday, August 29th — Music on the Front Porch, 2:00pm, Aurora Public Library — Choir

September
- Friday, September 18th — Home Football Game — Marching Knights
- Saturday, September 19th — Band Competition, Taylor HS (Cleves, OH) — Marching Knights
- Friday, September 25th — Homecoming Home Football Game — Marching Knights
- Saturday, September 26th — Band Competition, Batesville HS (Batesville, IN) — Marching Knights
- Wednesday, September 30th — Farmers Fair — Choir

October
- Saturday, October 3rd — Farmers Fair Parade — Marching Knights with 7th & 8th Grade Bands
- Saturday, October 3rd — ISSMA State Prelims, Whiteland HS (Whiteland, IN) — Marching Knights
- Friday, October 9th — Senior Knight Home Football Game — Marching Knights
- Saturday, October 10th — Band Competition, Mason HS (Mason, OH) — Marching Knights
- Friday, October 16th — Middle School Band Knight Home Football Game — Marching Knights with 6th, 7th & 8th Grade Bands
- Saturday, October 17th — ISSMA State Finals, Franklin Community HS (Indianapolis, IN) — Marching Knights
- Sunday, October 25th — Band Competition, East Central HS (St. Leon, IN) — Marching Knights

November
- Saturday, November 7th — MidStates Championships, Miamisburg HS (Miamisburg, OH) — Marching Knights
- Thursday, November 12th — Bands of America Grand Nationals, Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis, IN) — Marching Knights
- Wednesday, November 18th — Fall Concert — Choir
- Friday, November 20th — HS Variety Show — Marching Knights & Opening Knight
- Saturday, November 21st — HS Variety Show — Marching Knights & Opening Knight

December
- Saturday, December 5th — Dillsboro Hometown Christmas — HS Bands
- Wednesday, December 9th — Music Department Winter Concert — All Bands and Choirs

Ms. Heffelfinger's South Dearborn Middle School students are building a cheat code for big words: Greek and Latin roots.

Students are making posters, writing definitions, and using new vocabulary in sentences, all built around word parts that show up again and again, like "bio" or "tele."

Once you know "bio" means life, you can take a decent guess at "biography," "biology," or any word you've never seen before.

South Dearborn Community School Corporation is having an asynchronous eLearning Day today! For more information, please visit the eLearning page: https://www.sdcsc.k12.in.us/page/elearning

South Dearborn Community School Corporation is having an asynchronous eLearning Day on Monday, August 24th! For more information, please visit the eLearning page: https://www.sdcsc.k12.in.us/page/elearning

Wednesday night, South Dearborn's middle school boys soccer team took on Connersville — but the game wasn't the only thing on their minds.

Before kickoff, South Dearborn Middle School presented Connersville with a plaque made for the schools of Fayette County, still working through the aftermath of severe flooding. Alongside it, our middle school and high school soccer teams contributed donations of needed items to help.

It was a good lesson for our boys: even in the middle of a rivalry, there's always room to look out for a community in need.

Thank you to the families who stepped up to make it happen!

Hobbies. Strengths. Goals. Future careers. Mrs. McCune's South Dearborn Middle School students spent part of the week putting all of it down on paper with an attitude and interest inventory.

It's less about getting the "right" answer and more about students learning what makes for better choices. These reflections come in handy the next time they're picking a club, an elective, or a direction for their future.

When your class project matches what's happening outside the window, the lesson gets real fast! That's where Ms. Gabbard's 7th and 8th-grade PLTW students at South Dearborn Middle School found themselves with their Natural Disaster Project, as flooding recently moved through our area.

Seventh-graders in Computer Science mapped the areas affected by flooding, work that feeds directly into the class's next unit on drones — using flight technology to survey disaster areas and help communities respond. Eighth-graders in Medical Detectives studied the gear first responders use during water rescues and how those rescuers stay safe while saving others.

Computer science, drones, medical science, teamwork — all pointed at a problem happening recently right here in South Dearborn!

Day one at South Dearborn Middle School included more than finding lockers — Ms. Holt's English class also walked through both a fire drill and a tornado drill.

The timing mattered. With a real tornado warning affecting the area just yesterday, students got a clear, calm walkthrough of exactly where to go and what to do, right before it counted most.

Practicing the plan before you need it is what turns a stressful moment into a manageable one.

South Dearborn Community School Corporation will operate on a 2-hour delay tomorrow, Wednesday, August 12th, due to downed power lines, fallen trees, and flooding in the area.

They came from two different elementary schools, but by the end of the day, they were one team!

South Dearborn Middle School's sixth-graders started the year with a message from Mr. Schiering, kicking off his own first day as SDMS principal after several years as assistant principal: make new friends, be kind to one another, and build a positive school community together, starting now. That's what it means to be a Knight.

Welcome to the team, sixth-graders!

Mark your calendars — Open House is one week away for three South Dearborn schools.

📌 Aurora Elementary School — Monday, August 3rd, 5:30 to 7:00pm
📌 Dillsboro Elementary School — Monday, August 3rd, 5:30 to 6:30pm
📌 South Dearborn Middle School — Tuesday, August 4th, 5:00 to 7:00pm

Stop by to meet your student's teacher, walk their new classroom, and help them feel ready before the first bell rings.

See you there!